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Jack shrugged. His crew had been lax as of lately. Normally he hung around Mick, Steve and Tomo. Mick had gotten heavily into lacrosse for some reason and was practicing nine times out of ten. Jack hadn't even known the high school HAD a lacrosse team. Steve had finally gotten Emily, one of the not as hot (in Jack's opinion) cheerleaders to go out with him after three years of trying and they were doing their best Beth and Mark impersonations ALL the time now. And Tomo... poor Tomo. He' gotten deep into his "native culture" The truth is he was only half Japanese, and his father and grandfather (the Japanese half) had never even BEEn to Japan. He was busy reading and collecting every bit of faux japanese crap he could get ahold of. Jack didn't have the heart to tell them that about fifteen underclass nerdy types could own him in ANY discussion about the land of the rising sun, not too mention people like Michael, who had probably memorized the Japanese encyclopedia for fun, or Zack who had actually BEEN to Japan. And so, for the past week and a half Jack had been flying solo. And so he finally came to the conclusion that watching a cute girl model clothes could definately not be the WORSE thing he could be doing right now.

"That would be absolutely serendipitious!" He said grinning and taking a big sip of the coke.

As they walked toward the dress shop, Bella leaned in close to whisper, “Just between you are I... I actually find shopping loathsome. That's why I put it off to the last minute.”

After speaking with the clerk about the list of dresses other girls from her school had purchased for the dance, Bella proceeded to pick out several to be taken to her dressing room.

INSERT SHOPPING MONTAGE

After trying on and rejecting several dresses, it finally came down to a hot pink strapless minidress, or a slinky pale yellow sheath dress. The yellow was considerably more elegant, while the minidress was possibly the slightest bit trashy but she liked it better.

“Well, which do you think? Or do I need to try them on again?” She asked, holding first one dress in front of her, in front of a mirror, and then the other.

"Hrmm.. I think you should definately go with this!" he said, pulling a dress from the rack. It was aboslutely horrid. The top of the dress was a low cut black...thing with a frilly collar. It had huge poofy salmon colored shoulders with rippling sleeves of the same fishy color. From the waist down is spread out into a white skirtish thing that fanned out at least two feet in either direction. The skirtish part was polka dotted, pink and baby blue.

Jack Grinned.

"Barring that, however... the pink is cuter. If you're into that sort of thing, but hey it's YOUR dress."

Bella looked astonished for a moment when Jack pulled the strange flamingo dancer's dress off the rack. She felt a moment of panic, “Is it a costume party?!”

"Barring that, however... the pink is cuter. If you're into that sort of thing, but hey it's YOUR dress." He replied. Blushing, she dimly realized he must have been joking. Sometimes jokes eluded her, she had a very literal mind.

“Oh, I think I like the pink as well.” She said, trying to gloss it over as quickly as possible. “Plus, I already have shoes in this shade...” Turning to the clerk she said, “Alright, I guess I'll go with this one then.”

“Are you going to the game this afternoon?” She asked, as she paid and accepted the package. Rolling her eyes she went on, “I'm sure it will be as thrilling as ever.”

Jack shrugged, "Haven't really thought about it. Football's allright on rare occassions. Besides I'm already gonna put in my one game a year appearance at Homecoming. Then again I don't have any other plans. Eh... it depends I guess."

As to what it depended on...eh who knew. Jack sipped his coke and waited for Bella to finish checking out. Okay maybe he did a TINY bit of checking out himself. Inconspicuously of course.

Privately, Bella agreed with Jack about football. What was the point of the game anyway? Getting the ball through the giant Y? That was silly. It was basically a stupid game where men smashed into each other and rolled around on the ground. She'd never understood it, she just cheered when the others did and tried to focus as much as she could.

“Well, I am obligated to go to the game. I'll be cheering.”She explained, checking her watch, “That's in an hour and a half. I better go get ready, actually.”

She collected her package and turned to go. “I hope to see you at the game.” She said, waving, “Thanks for the help.”

As she hurried out of the mall, and to her car she decided she should stop at the Church for confession. She really had no intention of going to Mass the next morning, but she always felt much better after confessing. Prayer was a catalyst, and she had indulged in many dark thoughts lately.

Pulling in to the parking lot of the church she parked and slowly approached the massive structure. The gray stone bell tower loomed over the surrounding houses, it's tall steeple casting a long, menacing shadow. It was a mildly intimidating building, but the dark, incense scented church brought a great sense of peace to her heart.

Inside the main entrance a long aisle stretched forward to the alter where a large statue of Jesus stared out at the seemingly endless lines of dark wood pews. The stained glass windows scattered multicolored streaks of light throughout the place, almost making the cold gray stone appear warm.

Upon entering the church Bella crossed herself, and turning to the right she lit a candle, though she didn't know why she was meant to do it. She examined the plaque listing the priest's hours and discovered that they were unfortunately out. I really need to start paying more attention to such things. she thought.

She withdrew her rosary from her purse and knelt at the alter in one of the smaller chapels to the sides of the vestibule. Before her a much smaller statue of Blessed Virgin looked down, smiling softly. The face of the Holy Mother always made Bella feel warm and cherished.

Hands folded and eyes properly downcast she whispered three Hail Marys before settling back on her heels to enjoy the quiet dimness of her church.

I awoke in the grass of the field, it was empty. Huh I thought as I stood wiping off all the grass it was all a dream? Strange, how did I fall asleep? Oh, this stinks the games at 3:00, how did I forget that? No matter I'm being run all over the place its a wonder I missed only by hours. Guess I'll practice until 3.

People may read and write but, the writers of the world make all the good stories. The only question is if anyone here is a writer?

OOC: Bella should accidentally cause the apocalypse. Just to make it a dramatic story.

IC: Michael slurped his pop. Orange, I like orange. Orange pop had always tasted good to him, with just the right amount of everything. It was in a large cup with the Mcdonald's "M" on the side. Michael picked up his cheeseburger, and took a large bite. He could almost feel his arteries clog with each swallow. I guess for a genius, I'm not that smart. Michael munched on a fry.

"I'm not very hungry." Lauren said. She looked around at the tables. She gasped when she saw Michael. She poked Megan.

"What?!" Megan snapped.

"That's him!" Lauren said, pointing at Michael. He was sitting there with a soda from McDonalds.

"That's the annoying kid that bumped into me at Sanders." Megan mumbled. Lauren didn't hear her. Seeing Lauren's frozen-ness, Megan pushed her in his direction. Lauren glared at her then walked over to him.

"Uh, hey Michael." she gave him a soft smile. "Small world."

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
~

Pearing once again over the rim of my book, and glasses, I see that the two had left the table, and now there was an older girl with, who appeared to be her younger sister, and another guy, correction, genius I may have once known, over by the McDonalds. Checking the time I see that it's 1:45.Well, I suppose i could apply at radio Shack or something, beats doing nothing, and I'd love to be in a store full of electronics.
I groan a little to audiably as I get up and grab my book and coffee. Looking over as I walk by I recogize the kid. It was Michael, the genius kid who got bumped a few grades. All in the thought of spontaniousness (Is that a word?), I ad to stop myself from going over and saying hi. That kid patented and sold something, and was living in the upper class. I couldn't invent anything that someone wasn't already working on...Sighing I continue to my rethought-out destination, Future Shop.

IC: "Oh god, I hate that song," Michael replied as he looked up, "It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all," he rolled his eyes, "After I heard that for the first time I had it stuck in my head for a week. It tormented me to no end," Michael sighed and then smiled, "Here, take a seat. Care for a fry?"

"Oh I believe in angels, something good in everything I see, yes I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me I'll cross the stream, I have a dream,"

Anastasia sang loudly, despite the fact that no one else could hear the abba song coming from her portable cd player. It was just one of those traits that kept her on the southern hemisphere of the social ladder. Gliding along quite skilled in a pair of old roller blades she didn't even bother with a helmet as she swirved through the cars in the parking lot. With faded jeans and an orange shirt bearing the shamless grin of smiley face she entered the mall, skillfully avoiding Bella as she made her exit. She did her best not to snuff at the girl, she didn't have much patience for her type but she wasn't so far below everyone that she didn't hear the rumors. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl, although she wasn't surprised to find that she was already waving to a new guy, Jack by the looks of it.

They made an interesting pair to think of. Jack was a nice guy, but there was always one problem with nice guys. It wasn't that they we're too nice, it was just with so much friendliness you could never really expect them pay any more attention to you then the next guy. She continued on, passing a beauty store along the way smiling to herself as she noticed their new product on display, 'Acne, gone in under two weeks!' It promised, but that wasn't such a problem for her. Now, if they had freckle-be-gone she would certainly invest some of her money.

She came to a stop as she rolled into the small music store hidden well behind the precedding store. It wasn't very grand and made most of it's earning in it's guitar
pick sale's, but it met the town needs.

"Haven't seen you hear for awhile," The store clerk said without so much as raising his head to look at her, "Come to try and coharse me into giving you a free violin again or have you finally run out of spare strings?"

"You know my intentions or always honest!" Anastasia crossed her heart with a giggle, "But yes, I would like some more strings."

"So where's Kate and Keegan? I don't think I ever seen the three of you alone, I swear one would think you were chained together..." He commented handing her her purchases.

She pulled out several crumpled bills from her pocket and grudgingly let them fall from her hands.

"Oh, you know school's back in session. Some of us actually complete our homework on the weekends instead of rushing to finish it on the bus," She tried to smile.

In truth the two were enjoying popcorn and the movies to which she had been politley but bluntly declined of attending. She rolled out rather hastily, and tried to push them from her mind. She was very happy for them, they were her two best friends afterall, but she just never thought that their relationship would hamper so much on their trio. Or that she could be so lonely without them.

Clutching the box of strings much like it was life itself she rolled around aimlessly a bit before noticing the dress shop. She knew the fall festivities were fast approaching, but every year the three of them had always made it an all night marathon of movies. It was a tradition started way back in middle school where they would go through the best of the best from every genre; starting at the best chick flick and normally ending on the latest, scariest horror movie. But now, she knew there would most certainly not be any movies marathons this year. It wasn't that they had cut ties with her all together, they just sort of forgot she was there.

She fingered one of the dresses, uncertain. If she went she certainly wouldn't have a date, but then again, she doubted that she really wanted one anyway. If she didn't go her only other option would be staying a home, but not even the dog was going to be there. Picking up the mess of red fabric she held it up to herself. She would need a different color, and something much smaller. To put it modestly, she didn't have the figure to fill it up...

Bella exited the church and blinked rapidly, squinting, trying to adjust to the bright afternoon light. The feeling of relative peace left her as soon as she slid into the car and spotted Beth's horrible CD lying on the passenger seat.

She wasn't necessarily upset by the fact that Mark had cheated on her, it was human nature after all. She had never seen anyone remain faithful for long, that was the main reason she had resisted his advances in the foggy recesses of his backseat. Now she had to wonder if she had been a little less vigilant in guarding her chastity if none of this would have happened. If she hadn't have been such a 'frigid bitch' as Mark put it, if he wouldn't have wandered.

No, she wasn't upset over Mark, high school romance being the fleeting thing it was she hadn't expected much else. It was disappointing, but not particularly upsetting.

It was Beth that bothered her. You just don't spend over 10 years being best friends then turn around and poach in each other's territory. It wasn't right. It broke all the unspoken rules of sisterhood. The one thing she failed to take into perspective when examining their relationship was the tiny little fact that Beth always put what Beth wanted first. And apparently she had decided she wanted Mark. Which in itself wasn't strange because it seemed Beth always wanted whatever it was that Bella had.

She hadn't expected anything better of any of the other girls, but goddamnit she had thought better of Beth. She had constantly pushed Mark and Beth together, “I want you two to be friends! It's only right that the two most important people in my life like each other.” She remembered saying more than once.

All the times Mark had watched as Bella and Beth did each other's hair or painted each other's nails took on a new perspective. A sultan watching his concubines primp for him, a lion watching his lionesses play. It was disgusting.

And she hadn't suspected a thing. Trusting. Blind. Stupid. People sucked, plain and simple.

Her thoughts continued down this line as she drove to the school and made her way to the girl's locker room to change into her cheerleading uniform. Many of the others were already there, including Beth.

“Oh. I, like, had to take care of something, you know how it is.” Bella said, hugging Stacia back then pulling away to flip her hair over her shoulder.

It was funny, she didn't remember Stacia ever being overly friendly before. People she couldn't remember speaking to in years were being effusive lately. Maybe she had blocked them out because she had her head so far up Beth's ass she couldn't see them. Or maybe they were only being kind because they felt sorry for her. People did suck after all.

She checked her watch as she took it off to tuck it into the locker. It was 15 minutes to game time. That gave her five minutes to finish getting ready. She put her hair into two pig tails, one on either side of her head and ensured her socks were folded exactly as the other girl's were.

It was all so stupid. What was she doing there? One more year, one more year, one more year... She thought as she formed with the others to run on to the field.

OOC: Haha, Muttsy. . . that song brings back memories. My mom always played her Abba CD in the car when I was little.

After laying in her bed for almost a half hour, Yve finally came to the realization that she wasn't going to fall back asleep. The alarm clock on her bedside table informed her that it was past eleven already. Certainly too late for breakfast, and a bit early for lunch, at least by her standards. She rolled out of bed and grabbed the pillow case that held her book, just in case Aidan tried anything. She walked into the kitchen and popped a frozen waffle in the toaster. Ah, the weekends. . . the only two days of the week she could be lazy all day.

Not long after the somewhat succesful interview at Future shop I find myself walking by the dress store. With minor ideas as to how that happened, I find myself now glancing in it. There was a ginger haired girl, not that much younger than I, seeming to ave a fustrating time finding a dress. Quickly, and abruptly I take her figure into acount and skim look through the store, without entering, to find the right size group. Upon locating, I swiftly go to the section remaining unoticed. Upon arrival, I take into acount her hair, and her eyes, a bright hazel, and look quickly 'til I find something.

It wasn't great as most girls would have, but I thought it'd suit her. A dark pink gown, it was basic, but I knew that if I could convince my dad, I could get my mothers tiara. The tiara itself would probably perfect the outfit, being pure silver and embedded with small pink diamonds. It was very valuable, but had a feeling of trust towards this girl.

Somewhat shyly, I inch around the corner, until we're close enough to talk, but far enough that I'd feel initialy comfortable. After a couple seconds thought, still unoticed, I say,
"Hi! Um, I noticed you were looking at that red dress...Um, I think I may have found something you may like, and I think it might fit..." I suddenly become excessively nervous as I await her response, I was to shy around people I haven't met, expecially girls.

I followed the team onto the field where we would battle the Panthers. They were already in a huddle forming a stratagem when we got into a huddle of our own. Jake the teams quarterback told us in a hushed voice, "You guys all know the plays we did last game, they worked great so lets do the same here."

With those very...encuriging words we took ours places on the field. The play started nicely as I ran as far as I could before having the ball thrown to me, I caught it and ran a few yards before I started ducking and weaving to avoid tackles. Going nicely I thought as I made the touchdown bringing the score 7-0. We soon earned three more points as Mitchell made a field goal.

The rest of the quarter I played went smoothly, obviously the Panthers are the team we fight for an easy victory and a morale booster once in a while. In the final minute of the quarter I was sent to the bench with some sports drink of some kind to rest and watch as we easily score again and again till half-time.

Last edited by poketrainer; 09-07-2008 at 09:54 AM.

People may read and write but, the writers of the world make all the good stories. The only question is if anyone here is a writer?

Jack finished off his coke, yawned, stretched and decided to comb the mall for a bit. He considered going to the game. Maybe, but he didn't have to get ready or do team or cheerleader preparation crap, Thank the Maker for that, so he had a bit of time to kill before he went.

He passed the Braniac talking to the new girls, and paused. he came up behind Megan and Lauren.

"Howsit goin Brainchild, you gonna be able to go to the dance? I mean your in the right grade for it even if your age is wonky. I'm not POSITIVE I could swing it, but I do have a few connections. If you could find someone age appropriate I might be able to get you and a date grandfathered in as it were. That is, if you can find someone NEW and Interesting." this last part he said standing behind Lauren and pointing and gesturing to her when she wasn't looking.

"Oh yeah, New Girl..er, Mega. You goin to B's slumber party or whatever? You girls should rent Slumber Party Massacre part Seven. I'm sure it'll fit the atmosphere. Now if you'll excuse me, I see somebody I gotta go talk too." He grinned and then dashed off, sliding down the smooth floors of the mall to come up alongside Anastasia.

"Well Well Well, Staz. Where are the other Musketeers? You guys are usually thicker'n thieves. They haven't ditched you like my crew has the past couple of weeks eh? If so, then that sucks. SO what's happening... Ooh lookin at dresses. You got a fly date to the FallBall Shebang....er.. thang?"

What was this a bombardement? She hadn't really expected company so fast and certainly not all at once. She looked over the older boy first who had presented her the dress. Now, she was quite familiar with many of the town residents but she was drawing a blank with this fellow, although she did recall a little something about his background. Wasn't he that kid in her brothers grade that dropped out or something? What on earth was he talking to her for? She didn't exactly look like date material.

"Naw, I thought I'd embrace my inner nature girl and go lone wolf," Anastasia said placing the dress she was holding back down.

How many guys would accompany a women shopping on their own free will? It certainly couldn't be a crowd. Digging through the dresses she finaly pulled up a rather sparkly green one that looked like it was something from the 60's.

"Here we are," Anastasia held it up to model for the boys, "If you can't compete with the big dogs then wear something so damn awful they think you're crazy."

"Great minds think alike yo! I can't give the details on my outfit yet but... well you'll know what I mean when you see it. Anyways, B and some of the others have ALMOST roped me into going as a non alligned group, Me, B, the New Girl, er... Zack. y'know tall muscular athletic Ubermensch type? Tryin to wrangle it so the Wunderkind Michael can bring the new girl's lil sister. I think my buddy Jay has found someway for the Principal to let him in to the dance even though he graduated out early. You're more than welcome to tag along with us. Unless of course you're doing the whole Marathon of classic cinema with the rest of your posse. Then again, you aren't with them now so... c'mon. IIII personally would prefer to have a date but if I'm going to be in a group, outnumbered by cute girls then I can't really say no to that. Of course, I'm not really gonna be outnumbered unless you come too. So how bout it? Think quick, I ALSO got badgered into going to the football game. You and your buddy there wanna tag along for that? I seem to be without a crew myself"

IC: Michael couldn't help but smirk at Jack's gesturing behind Lauren's back. Michael finished his last fry and threw out his Sprite in the garbage can beside their table. He gave a big stretch with his arms and stood up, "I'll try Jack. I'll see you, Lauren, and Lauren's sister later. Right now I've got some... business to take care of."

Sighing disappointedly, I walk away, even though my mind kept nagging me to try to introduce myself. As soon as I was in a bathroom I curse loudly as I wash my face. I was a wreck, I couldn't even talk to a girl. Thoughg she had given me a look of confusion and slight recognition. Stomping angrily once, I exit the bathroom, trying to build enough nerve to talk to her. Where had Jack came from though?
I think to myself as I stand outside of the store, shaking my head in uncertainty. She obviously found the two of us arriving suprising. So I figured Jack could have his shot in the store, and I'd try to explain myself afterwards.